The Senate has declared the Ondo South senatorial seat vacant following the departure of Jimoh Ibrahim, who has been appointed as the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations.
The announcement was made during plenary on Tuesday by the Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, formally triggering the constitutional process to fill the vacancy.
Akpabio said the declaration followed Ibrahim’s new diplomatic role, describing it as a transition that necessitates fresh representation for the Ondo South senatorial district. He subsequently called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a by-election within 30 days, in line with existing laws.
The Senate president also directed the clerk of the National Assembly to communicate the resolution to the electoral body for immediate action.
Ibrahim’s exit marks the end of a relatively brief but active stint in the upper chamber, where he represented Ondo South after his election in 2023. During his tenure, he chaired the Senate committee on inter-parliamentary relations and held roles in several key committees, including finance, appropriations and the Niger Delta.
His legislative footprint included sponsorship of bills on bitumen development, the establishment of a federal medical centre in Igbotako, amendments to insurance laws and proposals for a national data bank.
Before his latest appointment by Bola Tinubu, Ibrahim had built a profile in international parliamentary diplomacy, serving as an interim president within the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva, as well as representing Nigeria at the Economic Community of West African States parliament and the Pan-African Parliament.
With the seat now vacant, attention shifts to the timetable for the by-election, which is expected to test local political alignments in Ondo South and offer an early signal of shifting loyalties ahead of the 2027 general election cycle.
